


Ebb and Flow

by TJ_Dragonblade



Series: Selkie AU [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Selkie AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-17 12:32:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16516565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TJ_Dragonblade/pseuds/TJ_Dragonblade
Summary: Prince Thor and his selkie lover Bruce spend an autumn morning together





	Ebb and Flow

**Author's Note:**

> This belongs in my ~~otherwise unwritten~~ selkie-verse, which will hopefully manifest properly at some point. Should read okay as a standalone, though. Written for Fictober 2018, Day 30 prompt: "Do we really have to do this again?"  
> =====  
> Started: 10/22/18  
> Drafted: 10/29/18  
> Posted: 10/30/18

Thor blinked awake in the early morning darkness, pulled from slumber by a stirring in the bed beside him and a vague sense of impending portent. Bruce was yet beneath the furs but sat up so that they piled in his lap and pulled free of Thor's shoulders somewhat, letting the chill air caress his back. "Mrmph," he mumbled, shifting to pull the furs closer. "You're letting the warmth escape." 

Bruce said nothing, however, gazing toward the open balcony and the thin pre-dawn light beyond, out to the dark seas swirling under intermittent gusts of autumn wind. The sun had not yet cleared the horizon and clouds crowded the sky regardless; it was a fine morning for burrowing back under the furs and sleeping awhile longer.

But there was a restlessness in Bruce, one that Thor suspected he recognized, and it saddened him. He rolled over, lit the lamp on the bedside table so that he could see more than just the shadow of Bruce's face. Turning back, he slid close beneath the furs again, settled a hand gently on Bruce's thigh. "What troubles you, Love?"

Bruce's gaze was still fixed on the distant sea. "It calls to me," he said at last, with quiet melancholy and implacable finality.

Thor groaned in protest that was only half-feigned, snaked his arm around Bruce's waist and nuzzled up against his bare hip. "Must we do this again, truly? I don't want you to go..."

Bruce tensed slightly, hands closing around Thor's arm in a grip more poised to push him off than keep him close, and his voice held a touch of alarm. "You promised—"

"Aye." Thor cut him off, abruptly more awake; he pulled his arm gently free and propped himself on one elbow, reaching to cup Bruce's cheek, turning them to better face one another. "I promised, and I stand by my word. Please forgive my complaining. However it pains me to be apart, I will never— _never_ —do anything to prevent you leaving."

Bruce leaned into the touch, but wariness lingered in his dark eyes all the same, and Thor lamented his careless wheedling of a moment before. Trust was not something that came easily to Bruce and Thor knew better than to make light of such a weighty matter.

"I swear it," he reiterated, holding Bruce's gaze. "Go back to the sea as you need, whenever you need; I will miss you sorely in your absence and welcome you with eager arms when you return—"

Bruce surged forward and kissed him soundly, forestalling any further words.

Thor fell back, let Bruce bear him down to the bed, wrapped him in a warm embrace and kissed with all the feeling held inside him. Long moments passed this way and then he rolled so that Bruce was tucked beneath him and kept kissing, plying him with softer less urgent variations while Bruce's fingertips touched his face, scratched gently through his beard.

Eventually they settled facing one another, close together, the furs pulled up against the pre-dawn chill of Thor's chambers.

"Will you leave today?" Thor finally asked, his hand idle on Bruce's hip.

Bruce curled in closer, burrowing under Thor's chin, and nodded against his collarbone. "If I can convince myself to give up this moment. The call of the sea is...I can't fight it, but lying here with you is everything I want right now."

Thor closed his eyes, heart heavy; he understood that life with a selkie would always include these sudden and unplanned separations, but he was grateful for Bruce's reluctance all the same. "Lie here with me awhile longer, then," he offered softly, "and when you go, I'll accompany you down to the shore."

Bruce nodded again and Thor gathered him in, held him close, pressed kisses into his grey-mottled curls. He savored the quiet of the morning and the warmth of Bruce's skin against his, listened as Bruce's breath evened out into sleep again, dozed off with his love in his arms.

Despite their impending separation, he was content.

It was a good two hours later that they came awake again and finally disentangled from one another, crawled out of the rich luxury of the bed and donned warm furs against the cold autumn morning, and then Bruce retrieved his sealskin from the secret compartment in the wardrobe.

Down at the shore, hidden from the castle by craggy outcroppings of stone they stood together in the damp sand, sharing one last embrace while the grey waves waited with timeless patience. Bruce was keyed up, tense, perceptibly torn between the inexorable call of the sea and the warmth of Thor's arms around him, and Thor drew him in for a final heartfelt kiss.

"Come back to me," he breathed at last, a quiet farewell.

Bruce reached up to touch his face, tender and lingering. "Always."

Thor caught his hand, kissed his palm, and then Bruce stepped away, shed his robe and handed it to Thor, crouched down as he donned his coat.

The change took Thor's breath away, however many times he'd seen it; for an instant there was Bruce clad in sealskin, and then reality seemed to shimmer slightly around him and he was a man no more but a seal, with the same dark soulful eyes as his human form.

Bruce shuffled close to Thor again and nosed gently underneath his hand; Thor stroked along the side of his face and down the sleek fur of his neck. Swallowing past the tightness in his throat he bent down, pressed his lips softly to the top of Bruce's spotted head. "Be safe, my love," he murmured, and straightened up again.

Bruce blinked solemnly up at him, then turned and bounded down the rocky shore and into the icy water. It was no time at all until he was deep enough to swim properly and he looked back once, rolled and raised one flipper in farewell, and then he dove beneath the waves and was gone.

Thor stayed awhile longer, arms full of Bruce's discarded clothing, gazing over the water while the cries of the gulls echoed off the cliffs behind him, listening to the rhythm of the surf just below. The snows would likely come and go before Bruce returned; the winter would be lonely, but Thor would bear it. Sometimes it was mere weeks, sometimes long months and he missed Bruce terribly either way, but he had faith that however long Bruce needed to stay at sea, his selkie would always come home to him in the end.


End file.
